Cleaning

You can buy "goo gone" if the gluey slipper is a permanent problem! $5, lasts forever, takes all sticky stuff off almost anything.

o man i can see the little space between my oven and the wall. Worse than Hitler!

"luckily" I have an electric stove so if I want to I can move it a bit to clean. This may never happen.

I might get some goo gone, since I also managed to get a big smear of glue on the floor next to the oven and it's not only gross but I'm afraid the cat will get stuck in it.

we have a 5-inch gap between our stove and the counter and uuugggh it gets so grody, I don't even wanna know what the underneath/behind the stove is like

*shudder*

^^^ this is why I had to shell out for that sick 6- burner stove :( I love the stove tho) We have 36" of space between cabinets. With a 30" stove, A gap that large would have had nests of dog hair full of food tidbits for enterprising rodents in days. DNW!

Congrats on yr new stove!!

yeah I have to spray windex and then wrap dishtowels or papertowels around the end of a broom handle to clean in there

so stupid

i want to kick the lady who owned our house before us, god she was a grade-a MORAN

I have been making my bed every weekend for 3 weeks in a row now
I feel very grown up

oh AND my house is generally tidy!

I've even started folding the laundry as Mr Veg dries it, instead of pretending it's not there for a week until the pile is up to my knees

sorry to brag but really you guys this is most irregular for me, but also becoming kind of awesome to witness

proud of you!! you know all it takes is, what, two weeks to make a habit? sounds like you're there! i have been cleaning the bathrooms REGULARLY (not only under dire circumstances) and really really cannot recommend custom-scented cleaning solution enough. it makes all the difference for me. also having the paper towels/spray bottle nearby so i can do it when i have 10 extra minutes instead of digging through a closet to find it.

i keep papertowel and wipes under the bathroom sink, and after I've done my ablutions I quickly wipe the sink over

omg gamechanger, it doesn't get very gross and then when I do get around to cleaning in a couple of weeks it doesn't take half as long.

it's kind of nice not feeling beaten down just by how shitty the house looks

The first set of blinds are in the bathtub as I type. I am doing this. Will report back.

:D

Well, not really. I gave up after breaking the first two sets. Oops.

oh no :(

My laundry game has improved 100x over since I haven't had to stress about quarters. Part of that is general upgrade rather than any habit-change on my part, but it makes me all that much more positive that our old building was like a bad partner whose awful habits I had learned to tolerate or ignore, depending on the circs.

I've also decided that mopping the entire place every 2 weeks is excessive. 3 will be fine, 1x a week for kitchen & bathroom with white tile.

I'm also starting to think that blinds are someone's attempt to torture us. Working on replacing mine with something more manageable but it'll take time.

I'm so happy for you re in unit laundry! It is amazing and I wish everybody could experience that joy in their own homes.

I have found good deals on bamboo blinds on Overstock.com. Also the first place I look for sheets and towels.

i got my bed on overstock.com. shipping was $1. i had almost forgotten about it!

i need to get on the overstock train

for the first time in my life I have a garden + warm weather and wtf!! laundry dries almost immediately! Instead of over two days in the cold basement. I did two loads!

LL's house is very cute and very clean and tidy, even though, as she told me, she had not done special cleaning before I visited. It really looked like she had!

I, on the other hand, struggle to keep up with my own whirlwind up disarray. But I'm doing it.

It surprised me that the greatest benefit of hiring house cleaners is that it makes me do a lot more housework. She's coming today, so yesterday and today I spent quite a bit of time changing the sheets, putting away clean laundry, organizing papers, hanging the lamp that had been lying half-assembled on the coffee table, etc.

She'll change the sheets for you.

My bed is a major pain in the ass to make. It's surrounded on the sides and top, so you have to wrassle with the sheets and I don't want to make Maria do that.

Thanks for being honest with me Je55e! It's so weird how many things are wrapped up in one's proclivity toward formal cleaning tasks.

Xpost She's a pro, I'd let her do the wrassling. That's why you have cleaners, to do the stuff that is annoying.

taxes, cleaning gutters, snaking the sewer...

I don't know. I usually agree but Jesse's bed, which I have seen but never slept in nor made, looks like a huge pain in the ass to make.

It's not like it would ruin her life, but it just feels like the worst chore in the world. But maybe she wouldn't think so and me doing something else and having her do the bed would be a totally great thing for both of us.

Like when I cleaned houses, my boss was totally fine washing toilet bowls by hand without gloves, but she hated cleaning kitchen sink drains, especially if they had any food caught in them. So weird.

Well, I hadn't realised that Ecover own Method.

i just bought a shark steam mop with a home depot gift card and i think i love it
am i kidding myself that this thing is cleaning my floor? i feel like using it weekly is better than nothing, and it's super easy to use.

Jesse has one, I think.

I finally ordered my handheld vacuum that I've been putting off doing for about 6 months. I have a car now so it's extra important!

I looked at those steam mops, I am intrigued by them!

I am currently addicted mr clean magic eraser mop, my floors haven't looked this clean in forever

kinder, after wanting one for years, I bought a handheld vacuum this spring and I love the hell out of that thing. It has come in handier than I ever could have imagined.

It was actually a Shark brand cordless pet something something.

Jesse has one, I think.

Not me. I figured it would make me less likely to ever mop the floor if I felt obligated to go through extra steps it would require.

I bought a dust mop, which is nice.

dust mops rule imo

What am I doing wrong in trying to control the cat litter problem?? I swept and mopped yesterday at 4:00 and this morning once again, litter is evenly scattered all over the living room, bathroom, and closet floors. And on the couch.

The litter box is in an alcove - and I've tried other locations - with a mat around it. I've tried various "low-tracking" litters and facing the box toward the wall. I've even tried trimming the hair on the cats' feet.

Thank God for the Roomba.

do you have a litterbox lid? We have one bcz kitty goes apeshit in the litterbox.

Yep. It seems like one problem is that when they're done they jump out like a grenade just went off in there. A ramp is maybe the solution.

A lot obviously stays in their paws, too.

I think the size of your apartment makes it worse, too. I can't think of anything we do that you aren't already doing. Francie alone doesn't generate as much litter as Sample and Francie did, so I guess you could set Brenda free.

New bathroom has marble floors and it continues up half the walls - what do I clean it with and what should I definitely avoid cleaning it with?

New kitchen has white tile and BLACK grout so happy

don't use anything abrasive on the marble, if it's truly marble

Or anything acidic, like vinegar - it etches really easily

Yeah I'm pretty sure Its marble but might check with landlord. Bleach ok?

Also : goodbye horrible peeling stain covered porcelain sink, hello STAINLESS.

Another question. : ive never had a garbage disposal before... um what do I need to know apart from no oil and no bones / hard things?

dilute bleach on a light colored marble should be okay

Throw a lemon rind down the running disposal every once in awhile to make it smell better

no coffee grounds, no peelings (potato carrot etc).

don't treat it like a compost grinder (as I did when I first moved here, yipes sorry gargage disposal). also important public service announcement for pretty much only me: it sucks when you break a glass in the sink and it all ends up in the garbage disposal. avoid that, definitely.

NO PEELINGS???! wtf is the point of a garbage disposal if u cant put peeps down it :/